Friday, May 29, 2009

Meandering on and on . . .

Today is the birthday of Ebenezer Butterick (May 29, 1826 - March 31, 1903), tailor and inventor, best known for Butterick Patterns. Ebenezer Butterick with his wife Ellen developed printed dress patterns that could be cut for different dress sizes. They are the inventors of the tissue paper dress pattern.

In 1867 Butterick began publishing the Ladies Quarterly of Broadway Fashions, a magazine to promote their patterns and in 1868, a monthly magazine, Metropolitan. Both magazines offered fashion news and advice, as well as mail order services for Butterick's designs.

In 1873, E. Butterick & Co. began publishing the women's magazine The Delineator (subtitled A Journal of Fashion, Culture, and Fine Arts) which, by the turn of the century was a premiere women's fashion magazine in America.